Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Incubation \In`cu*ba"tion\, n. [L. incubatio: cf. F.
incubation.]
1. A sitting on eggs for the purpose of hatching young; a
brooding on, or keeping warm, (eggs) to develop the life
within, by any process. --Ray.
2. (Med.) The development of a disease from its causes, or
its period of incubation. (See below.)
3. A sleeping in a consecrated place for the purpose of
dreaming oracular dreams. --Tylor.
{Period of incubation}, or {Stage of incubation} (Med.), the
period which elapses between exposure to the causes of a
disease and the attack resulting from it; the time of
development of the supposed germs or spores.